May16th

Garage/Workshop Roof

 Trusses are the best solution for roof timbers. It's relatively easy to buy the timber and make them yourself... but you can get them made for you and delivered cheaper. It is, as they say, a no brainer. And since they are designed specifically for the purpose from the correct sized timber they are incredibly light.

It suddenly looks suspiciously like a garage. 

 My 'navvy' gets the felt and battens on, so it's now weatherproof inside.

 And today started the tiling... only another 500 to go.

May 11th

 Llyn Y Fan Fach 

We've had frequent visits to the Brecon Beacons in April and May - particularly The Black Mountain. Secret mission! Been some pretty stunning days. This area is so much more interesting than the honey pot of the main Beacons. Sink holes, limestome pavements, crags, crashed bombers... and lovely lovely running terrain.

 

 Sink holes in the middle of nowhere - on a hot day very inviting!
Joc here walking for 5 hours only four days after lung surgey. 

 Some of the crags sport some weird geology.

 What is this all about? Quite a big rock with some pimply doodahs all over it. Someone please tell me what this is. The white lichen seems to adhere well to the pimples too.Oh yeah... the GPS is just for scale.

  A close up of the pimples.

 

 Who in their right mind would prefer running on the road to this?

Building Update

 This is the 'ecocent' hot water tank. Basically it's a 200 litre hot water tank with a mini air-source unit on top. It takes waste heat from the roof (or house if you're running a MHRV system) and tranfers it to the hot water. Theortically it should cost about £1 per week for all our hot water needs...  a couple nearby have the same system and this is what it costs them (maybe they have less showers than us though). Since it's a pressurised tank there's a bit more plumbing know-how needed to install it (tundish, inlet control group...)
 

 Detail of the pipework.

 And... we've had a baby.. foal. Born in the field below us the morning the picture was taken. Ahhh.